44, Day 41: The All-Powerful Rush Limbaugh

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-Who does the White House think leads the Republican party? It's not anyone in the House or the Senate. According to Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, that person is Rush Limbaugh. "He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party. And he has been up front about what he views, and hasn't stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure. He said it. And I compliment him for his honesty, but that's their philosophy that is enunciated by Rush Limbaugh. And I think that's the wrong philosophy for America," Emanuel said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

-White House Budget Director Peter Orzag defended the administrations plan to boost taxes on high-income Americans to pay for healthcare reform. "I just reject the theory that the only thing that drives economic performance is the marginal tax rate on wealthy Americans, and the only way of being pro-market is to funnel billions and billions of dollars of subsidies to corporations," Orzag said on ABC's "This Week."

-President Obama's only big holdover from the Bush administration--Defense Secretary Robert Gates--has a unique take on the transition, given he's served both men. "I think that probably President Obama is somewhat more analytical. And he makes sure he hears from everybody in the room on an issue. And if they don't speak up, he calls on them." Gates said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "President Bush was interested in hearing different points of view but didn't go out of his way to make sure everybody spoke if they hadn't spoken up before."

by J. Jennings Moss

Sources: CBSNews.com. MSNBC.com, and ABCNews.com.